From San Jose to L.A.

Curt Fukuda and Ralph Pearce, co-authors of “San Jose Japantown: A Journey,” spoke at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo on Nov. 7. Published by the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, their 430-page book required hundreds of interviews and 15 years of research into Nihonmachi’s history, which began in the 1890s in San Jose’s Chinatown (aka Heinlenville). With a rewrite of “Casey at the Bat” and an illustration by the late cartoonist Jack Matsuoka, Pearce recounted one of the highlights of Japantown’s history — a 1935 baseball game in which the San Jose Asahis beat the visiting Tokyo Giants. Fukuda said he had an opportunity to talk about Japantown’s history when Anthony Bourdain visited Minato Restaurant for a segment of “Parts Unknown” that aired on CNN on Oct. 18. The book is available at the JANM Store. (Photos by J.K. YAMAMOTO/Rafu Shimpo)

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The Rafu Shimpo has been the nation's leading Japanese American newspaper since its original publication. We are proud to have served the Japanese American community from our Little Tokyo office in Downtown Los Angeles since 1903.